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Egypt – The Withering of the Arab Spring

egypt As an outsider looking in at the situation in Egypt it is very confusing.  I am going to explore my thoughts via this piece.  It would be appreciated if anyone who  had thoughts on this would comment.  It just seems like awful conflict with both sides wrong.

First allow me to admit that most of my news comes from NPR.  While many folks rant about NPR’s “Liberal” slant I find it one of the few news sources without a large bias.  So many of the news sources of our time are more opinion than news and/or have a definite bias. Since I almost never watch TV news, my other source of news is the Internet, so much of which must be taken with a grain of salt.  I do tend to browse the more liberal news/opinion sites.  To counterbalance this I do browse the BBC site almost daily to get a point of view from outside the United States.  On very rare occasions I will look at Al Jazeera site. Like most folks I am stuck in my bias silo, but I do attempt to make the occasional foray into other arenas of thought.

I have a love/hate relationship with my country.  Continue reading “Egypt – The Withering of the Arab Spring”

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Amtrak Could and Should Do Better

I think I understand why Amtrak is having business problems.USA-superliner-train-seats

I would love to be able to take a train a lot of places I visit.  First and foremost, there are not passenger trains to many places.  If there is the travel time is much more than it would be by car and the real kicker is that the tickets are more expensive than driving.   At least that has been my experience every time I have checked for an upcoming trip.

We recently returned from a wedding that was held in downtown Chicago.  We took Amtrak from St. Louis to Union Station in Chicago there and back.  The tickets for the two of us ran around $245.  Gas for the trip would have ran from $100 to $150 depending on which vehicle we took and how much additional driving we did.   However overnight parking in downtown Chicago would have cost us at least $60 per day.   To the above figure add $120.  Because we were splitting cabs with other attendees to the wedding, cabs probably ran another $20 or $25 while we were there.   Double that if we had not split.

Our train was due to leave St. Louis Friday morning at 7:55 a.m.   The Texas Eagle was behind schedule.  Continue reading “Amtrak Could and Should Do Better”

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Hey Ted Nugent…Guns are not toys.

Dead-Nugent-1219x1200I will admit to liking one or two Ted Nugent songs, but on the whole I am not a fan.  My musical tastes tend toward Americana, singer/songwriter, jazz and classical music.  However, Ted Nugent as a political activist I categorically do not like.  It is an actually aversion.  I am a big supporter of free speech, but part of me cannot help but thinking in a sane society this individual would be receiving heavy psychiatric counseling.

My aversion to Mr. Nugent stems from his attitude towards guns and his support of seeming absolutely no gun control.

To state the obvious, guns are designed to kill, period.  They have no other function.   They are meant to either kill humans or animals.  Of course, there are effects that stem from this function.

They have been and are used for agents of gathering meat.  This use has limited functionality now, as most folks who hunt for food in the United States will readily tell you that it is not cost efficient.  While I personally do not hunt, I can understand the desire.  It is not something I would wish to take away from people.  Continue reading “Hey Ted Nugent…Guns are not toys.”

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought # 1452

…yeah I know you did not ask!

Women are like cats. When they want attention you had better give it them, and when they do not, you had better leave them alone.

Men… well men are just dogs!

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Let Them Eat Cake…said (more or less) Virginia Foxx

Virginia Foxx: Congress Doesn’t Need To Make College Affordable virginia-foxx

Talk about an elitist attitude…if it were not for Pell Grants (from the federal government) and a supportive wife I would never have made it through college. I would have spent my life working in warehouses and factories for not very much money.

And do not get me started on these for profit colleges like Phoenix. There have been multiple studies showing that they fail to prepare students for jobs and are exceeding expensive. If we are to spend tax dollars at these for profit schools, there should be some accountability.

And why I am at it, why have they privatized the student loan program?

Are For-Profit Colleges a Rip-off?

For-Profit Colleges Hemorrhaging Students

For-profit College Graduates Barely Earn More Than High School Graduates

In a different vein
Education Pays

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BR-549

tumblr_kw4eqwmOEY1qzfipuo1_400Tonight I had to explain to my urban, Jewish girlfriend the significance of BR-549.  I mistakenly told her to give me a call at that number.

Of course, that is the phone number of Junior Samples Car Sales from Hee Haw.  I then had to remind her what Hee Haw was.   I went on to expound that there is also a country music group called BR549.  The origin, however, is deeper than either Hee Haw or country music. It originated with the International Harvester BR–549 engine which was used in larger farm trucks. It was a Broad-Ringed (BR) 549 Cubic Inch monster of an engine.

I am still wondering how to get the glazed look off of her face.

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Ted Nugent is some scary sh**!

ted-nugent2Ted Nugent’s response to the Zimmerman case: http://rare.us/story/nugent-zimmerman-verdict-vindicates-citizen-patrols-self-defense/

This is some scary sh**! Ted Nugent is some scary sh**! Anyway you look at the Zimmerman/Martin encounter, it was a huge tragedy.

I really do not know anything about Travan Martin, but looking at his face he appears to be a really nice young man. I think of myself as pretty much non-violent and I do not recall ever starting a fight. A few times when I have been backed into a corner I have fought, and I was pretty much nuts and was determined to do great damage. That is probably where Travan was at, backed into a corner. It is a real shame there was a gun in the mix, otherwise it would have probably ended with two guys with a lot of bruises and scraps.  I really wonder if George Zimmerman would have had the “courage” to stalk this young man if he had not been carrying a concealed weapon.  I am guessing, no.

The thought of so many folks running around with concealed weapons chills my bones. I don’t own a gun, and I really cannot think of a reason why I should unless I suddenly get the need to hunt for food.

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Gambler Jack and Guns

I used to know a fine fellow named Jack.  Jack was very smart, very rough and a gambler. He spent a lot of time in places I would not have the courage to go.

I asked him one time if he was not a little scared and did he carry a gun.

His answer has stuck with me to this day. He said,” If you carried a gun and pulled it out and used it you were in trouble. If you carried a gun and pulled it out and did not use it you were in another sort of trouble. So why carry a gun, it was just trouble either way.”

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Jeremiah

We went to dinner tonight with another couple. The hostess sat us and informed us that Jeremiah would be our server.

I asked, “Is he a bullfrog?”

There was a blank look on the hostess’ face.

I added, “A 3 Dog Night song.”

Even blanker look on her face.

Sigh.

Jeremiah however was well versed in Jeremiah lore.

I asked, ‘Do you know who Jeremiah is?”

He responded, “Jeremiah Johnson, Jeremiah the Bullfrog or Jeremiah the prophet?”

There may be some hope for the younger set.

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War and Peace

warpeaceI knew very little about War and Peace before I read the book except it written b a Russian Leo Tolstoy and it was very long.  It is long, about 1300 pages in paperback.   By comparison the Harry Potter box set is 4167 pages with the print admittedly larger. I think the majority of us have read all the Harry Potter books.

This is not an attempt to review such a classic, but perhaps some impetus for someone to read this worthy book.

It is an historical novel.  It uses the fortunes of several folks to move the narrative forward.   It is a love story, but certainly not in the vein of Jane Austen.  Tolstoy brings the characters alive to point that you do care what happens to them.  Will Natasha marry the Prince?  Will Princess Mary ever find happiness?  How long will Count Bezukhov put up with his wayward wife?  Will the Rostovas go bust before the novel ends?  I had to remind myself it was normal for those times.  I found it a little creepy that  30 and 40 year old men were chasing the main love interest of the story,  16 year old Natasha.  Apparently if you were not married by the time you were 17 or 18 your were an old maid.  People were not so worried about marrying for love, but in making a match that increased the family’s finances.

It is a history of Russia from about 1800 to 1813 or so.  The epilogue goes past those dates.  It is the story of Bonaparte’s invasion into Russia and the Russian response.  Continue reading “War and Peace”